THE SHOCKING TRUTH ABOUT POWER STRAPS REVISITED

Since I started this blog with my first post, A CINDERELLA STORY: THE ‘MYTH’ OF THE PERFECT FIT (1.) on 2013-05-11, THE SHOCKING TRUTH ABOUT POWER STRAPS (2.) is by far the most widely viewed post. This is significant because the content of this post challenges premises that are widely embraced and cited as knowledge that is fundamental to skiing.

The greatest enemy of knowledge is not ignorance; it is the illusion of knowledge.

– attributed to Stephen Hawking

Widely accepted false beliefs can negate incentives to pursue the acquisition of knowledge necessary to understand complex issues that fall outside the limits of established paradigms. A prime example being the ability to balance perfectly on the outside ski.

Observing great skiers like Marc Giardelli or Ingemar and more recently, Mikaela Shiffrin, Lindsey Vonn and Marcel Hirscher balance perfectly on their outside ski suggests it is possible. But uninformed observation in itself does not impart, let alone lead to, an understanding of the associated mechanics, biomechanics and physics of perfect balance on the outside ski as it equates with neuromuscular mediated dynamic balance of triplanar torques acting across the joints of the ankle/foot complex, knee and hip. The intrinsic need of those who regarded as authorities on ski technique to provide plausible explanations for the actions of elite skiers led to the fabrication of terms such as knee angulation that served to create an illusion of knowledge of the mechanism of balance on the outside ski. Knee angulation also provided an effective mechanism with which to demonstrate the mechanics of edge hold.

To raise new questions, new possibilities, to regard old problems from a new angle, requires creative imagination and marks real advance in science.

– Albert Einstein

While knee angulation provides a plausible explanation for a mechanism with which to rotate a ski onto it’s edge, it does not explain the mechanism of perfect balance on the outside ski in accordance with Newton’s Laws and the principles of functional anatomy. Solving this mystery required raising new possibilities and creating a new paradigm; one that looked at the function of the human lower limbs from a new perspective with new possibilities.

It took me from 1980 to 1990 to discover how the mechanism of balance on the outside ski works. Trying to impart an understanding of this mechanism to others has presented significant challenges because the illusion of knowledge within the ranks of the ski industry has resulted in a hardened mental model that makes the real mechanism all but invisible. The resulting information bias causes people to seek information that supports what they believe while filtering out information that conflicts with what they believe; i.e.

I don’t need new information on how to balance perfectly on my outside ski because I have been doing this for years and I don’t need to know anything more.

But the reality is, that with rare exception, while elite skiers and even World Cup racers may think they can balance on their outside ski they have no way of recognizing the correct feeling, let alone confirming that they are actually doing what they think they are doing.

I have designed and fabricated a device with which to train skiers/racers to create a platform under their outside ski on which to stand and balance perfectly on. The device can be used to capture what I call a skier’s personal Balance Signature using technologies like CARV. More on this in my next post.

3 comments

Hi Zach, there is a lot of testing ongoing that is producing interesting results. I will try and post something on the traininf device before Christmas. CARV has advised they have shipped units. But we are still awaiting receipt.